BP Chats

I've used Crawford before. At least before Crawford became a 20 HR guy (although not out of the realm of possibility for Rosario, it's unlikely). I think Rosario is more likely to be a power over hit type than an Andrus type offensively. And I don't think he is as natural a shortstop as Andrus. He's good there, but he gets by more on athleticism. A comp I heard recently that I sort of like is Asdrubal Cabrera with a better glove. (Jeffrey Paternostro)

It seems like the Cardinals have had a terrible last few months; lose to the Cubs, top prospect suspended 80 games, Molina and Peralta go down with major thumb injuries, and the only free agent that took their money was Mike Leake, while Lackey and Heyward go to the Cubs. Am I right that this is not going well for the Redbirds?(Nude Pablo Sandoval from Boston)

That's a bad username. I'm tempted to not answer your question, but it is an easy one. Yeah, things are looking dark in St. Louis. That means that Adam Wainwright will win 22 games and Greg Garcia will turn into Brandon Crawford. (Bryan Grosnick)

I enjoyed your pre-season rankings, will you do those again before opening day? Ian Desmond was a 5 star SS for you pre-season 2015. How many stars will he get in February and who has passed him? Does his lower BABIP in 2015 factor into your ranking of him? (Oh the Blue Jays are playing baseball now!) Thank you. (Mark from DC)

Yes, we'll do rankings again next year. I would think that Desmond has to drop down into the three-star tier, which means that a number of players have passed him. Carlos Correa and Brandon Crawford are ahead of him now, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lindor sneaks in there too. Based on last year, this would probably put Desmond on the periphery of the top 10. (Tout Wars Champ Mike Gianella)

Hi Mike, two questions. First, how many AB's do you give players before moving on in fantasy?
Also, time to dump Everth? He or Aybar ROS?
Thanks!(Higdldini from NY, NY)

It depends on the format obviously, but if you're talking about a standard mixed probably anywhere from 150-250 depending on what the FA pool looks like. A lot of this discussion revolves around what your replacement will look like. So if you're in a 15-team mixed and you're annoyed at Everth Cabrera and Brandon Crawford is your best option, you just might want to sit tight. But in a 10-team mixed, you might have plenty of options that make sense.

I'd stick with Cabrera over Erick Aybar. Aybar offers some power upside over Cabrera, but he doesn't run the way he used to and I'd rather have Cabrera's 40-45 SB potential. (Mike Gianella)

Is there ever a situation where you would rather have an empty lineup spot over a poor player for a short period of time in a roto league? My example is that Erick Aybar is on the DL for another 10 days, and the best options on the waiver wire are Cozart and Brandon Crawford. Would the negligible gain in runs and RBI be enough to off-set the hit to BA? Thanks!(Scott from OC)

Rarely ever, and if Cozart is available, that doesn't apply. Grab him over running an empty spot out there. (Bret Sayre)

Do you think AJ Pollock and Brandon Crawford can continue to produce at this level for the rest of the year? (Steve from IL)

I haven't seen enough of Pollock to give an educated comment on him, Steve, but (anecdotally) Crawford looks stronger this year and I could see him threatening double digits in home runs. The improvements in his walk and strikeout rates also are promising. He won't finish with an OPS above 900, but I wouldn't be stunned if he winds up a well-above-average overall shortstop. (Daniel Rathman)

What's the general scouting world's view of Brandon Crawford's defense?(rmunter from Washington DC)

I think it depends on the scout and at what point in the year that saw him. He made a lot of improvements to his defensive game as the year progressed. I have mixed feelings about Crawford. To me, he's the type that makes plays look harder rather than making them look easier. Some defenders are so natural, and athletic, and fluid that even high-difficulty plays look routine. Crawford makes a play and it takes every ounce of his being and people can witness the effort so it looks like he showed a lot of #want in the act, which I'm sure he did. Elvis Andrus makes the same play and it looks routine and common. (Jason Parks)

Not saying I disagree about Brandon Crawford, but regardless of how he looks doing it, he does seem to make the plays. I don't see much where I think "ooh, he coulda/shoulda had it". Am I just missing the ones a better SS would make? Or is it "he's really good, but he makes it look so hard we need to dock him a few points"?
The range of opinions on his defense seems awfully wide, and I'm not able to judge why...(NC from SF)

How he looks while executing his craft plays a very large role on how we determine the worth of the play in relation to other plays. It's a visual connection that occurs whether or we think about it or not. The fluidity and #grace of a particular athletic movement can convince us (based on the visual understanding of those movements) that one action took more effort or ability than the other, when in reality, one just appeared to look more difficult because of the visual photographs we take and how we relate those images to a scale of difficulty. (Jason Parks)

(Not arguing - still just really curious)...
On Brandon Crawford, again: isn't the point to "make all the plays", whatever "all" is? It's great if you can look like Ozzie while doing it, but do we care if you don't if the result is the same? Or is the concern that while he might be fine now, it can't last? (NC from SF)

Yes. Making plays is what ultimately counts, but my point was about the visual connection we form with certain movements and how that influences how we relate and compare the difficulty and subsequent value of said play. Making the plays is all that actually matters, but we don't watch baseball games just to see the end result of actions. We watch baseball to judge the process and execution of those actions as well. (Jason Parks)